Can hard drive inactivity power-down be set in NT4 server?

NT Guy · External Since: Feb 24, 2005 Posts: 5

Usually I see this option when your right-click on the desktop and
select properties. Somethere around there (powersaving?) there will be
an option to power-down the hard drives after so many minutes of
inactivity. I don't see it on my nt4-server box. Can it be done?

John John - MVP · External Since: Apr 24, 2009 Posts: 5

NT4 has no native power management features. You would have to rely on
third party solutions.

John

NT Guy wrote:
> Usually I see this option when your right-click on the desktop and
> select properties. Somethere around there (powersaving?) there will be
> an option to power-down the hard drives after so many minutes of
> inactivity. I don't see it on my nt4-server box. Can it be done?

Calvin · External Since: Feb 23, 2004 Posts: 313

Hi NT Guy,

If I recall correctly power management of the Hard Disk Drive will
achieve nothing on NT4 because the power management timers will NEVER
run out and get you to a 'power down' state.

NT4 holds several files open and writes to them on a VERY regular (like
every 60 - 120 second) basis, so the drive is basically "always" in use
! Also recalling (now very foggy) memories, I think this change in
behaviour in NT4 happened at above SP3 era - but don't take this as
gospel. Prior to that, an 'inactive' machine would go quiet enough to
allow power management of the drive. Microsoft however specifically warn
against trying using the BIOS HDD power management in KB158942
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=158942

I power manage my Display (since it is a major contributor to overall
system power consumption) using the technique listed here:
http://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/desktop.htm under the "screen saver" section. I
can certify this technique works well.

Hope this info helps,

Calvin.

NT Guy · External Since: Feb 24, 2005 Posts: 5

Calvin wrote:

> If I recall correctly power management of the Hard Disk Drive
> will achieve nothing on NT4 because the power management timers
> will NEVER run out and get you to a 'power down' state.

How would you explain this:

John John - MVP wrote:

> NT4 has no native power management features. You would have to
> rely on third party solutions.

John John - MVP · External Since: Mar 26, 2009 Posts: 10

NT Guy wrote:
> Calvin wrote:
>
>> If I recall correctly power management of the Hard Disk Drive
>> will achieve nothing on NT4 because the power management timers
>> will NEVER run out and get you to a 'power down' state.
>
> How would you explain this:
>
> John John - MVP wrote:
>
>> NT4 has no native power management features. You would have to
>> rely on third party solutions.

I have never used 'third party solutions' on NT4, I'm not sure if there
are any available. I'm just saying that NT4 has no native power
management features and that you will have to search for a third party
solution.

In these old NT days Power Management was not a big concern... and in
any case shutting down drives on servers was (is) rarely a good idea.

John

NT Guy · External Since: Feb 24, 2005 Posts: 5

Calvin wrote:

> If I recall correctly power management of the Hard Disk Drive
> will achieve nothing on NT4 because the power management timers
> will NEVER run out and get you to a 'power down' state.

John John - MVP wrote:

> NT4 has no native power management features. You would have to
> rely on third party solutions.

So I still don't know if NT4 server has any native ability to perform
drive power-down based on inactivity.

Calvin seems to imply it does, but that it's not effective or realistic.

John John says NT doesn't have it - period.

Who is right?

Calvin · External Since: Feb 23, 2004 Posts: 313

NT Guy wrote:
> So I still don't know if NT4 server has any native ability to perform
> drive power-down based on inactivity.
>
> Calvin seems to imply it does, but that it's not effective or realistic.
>
> John John says NT doesn't have it - period.

We both are actually - you are reading a bit too much into what I said.
I was simply saying IF NT4 had HDD power management it would be ineffective.

John John is right, there certainly is NO native power management (of
any kind for ANY device) built into NT4 as distributed by Microsoft.

There certainly ARE 3rd party tools that can at least partially power
manage an NT4 machine. The most notable is a DPMS screen saver to
perform power management of the display system. It is also possible to
power manage the overall machine (most notably laptop systems) to some
degree.

In what you are talking about (a NT4 Server) however I would expect
attempting to power mange the HDD would be a formula for disaster. As I
have previously pointed out, some people used to power manage
peripherals using the BIOS power management capabilities. Microsoft
rightly point in the Knowledgebase I have previously cited that such
actions are VERY dangerous and certainly NOT recommended.

In all honestly, as far as your "power footprint" (and amount of heat
generated) is concerned, turning the HDD off would be barely noticeable
- the motherboard and other peripherals probably use 10+ times more
energy. A modern typical HDD uses 10W of power or less, the motherboard
is often 100W+

In direct answer to your original question, the power management
interface you were talking about (as part of desktop properties) was a
new "tab" added to the interface in windows 2000 - the power management
tab is absent in NT4.

Calvin.